


when i'm set alight

by mixedfandomfics



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: (short scene of homophobia), Alternate Universe - Teachers, Hate to Love, Homophobic Language, M/M, Misunderstandings, Teacher AU, harry teaches chemistry, louis has a cat named millie, louis teaches enlish, most of this was written while i was either exhausted or drinking so like, they hate each other, this swings wildly between angst and crack fic so enjoy the whiplash, until they dont lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-22
Updated: 2019-06-22
Packaged: 2020-05-16 05:30:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19311619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mixedfandomfics/pseuds/mixedfandomfics
Summary: Louis and Harry hate each other. Always have, always will. No one is quite sure how they will handle it when their favorite students ask them to lead a new LGBT club at their school.





	when i'm set alight

**Author's Note:**

  * For [1Diamondinthesun](https://archiveofourown.org/users/1Diamondinthesun/gifts).



> prompt: 
> 
> I'm a sucker for Teacher AUs, so how about one where H and L work at the same school and initially do NOT get along. They have to work together for a school event, though, and finally get to know each other. Whatever subjects they teach, I want to see some detail about their subject knowledge. 
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks so much to 1Diamondinthesun for the prompt, to Lissa for beta-ing last minute, and to all the people that listened to me talk about this for months and helped me bounce around ideas. This wound up being more rushed than I intended, but I enjoyed writing it to the very end. There is a brief scene of homophobia (parent-teacher conferences) if that is triggering for anyone. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!

“Styles.” Louis said gruffly, nodding stiffly across the aisle as he leaned in the doorway of his classroom, clutching a thermos of coffee. 

“Good morning, Mr. Tomlinson.” Harry said, overly chirpy. Louis knew it was the bullshit, passive aggressive voice he used when he was especially annoyed at Louis. To be fair, it was a Monday, and rainy, and so Harry probably hadn’t been able to ride his bike before work or whatever awful hippie shit he was into. “You took my parking spot this morning, did you know?”

Louis did, in fact, know. He left three minutes earlier in order to park in Harry’s spot. It’s not like they’re actually assigned, anyway. Everyone just always parks in the same place. 

“No, I didn’t realize.” He hummed innocently. “Not really your spot anyway, is it? What on earth is that on your door?” Louis asked, horrified, catching sight of some green blob mostly obscured by Harry. Louis thought it couldn’t get worse than the inspirational Einstein poster, but clearly it could, and clearly it had. 

Harry narrowed his eyes and stepped to the side with a dejected sigh, revealing a massive cartoon avocado with a speech bubble containing the phrase 6.022 x 1023. At the bottom, the whole thing was captioned “Avocado’s Number.”

“I don’t get it.” Louis frowned, trying to catch whatever stupid chemistry pun Harry had come up with this time. 

“Avogadro’s Number is how many atoms are in a mole of something. It sounds like avocado so…” Harry gestured at the poster. 

Louis stared at Harry, and then the poster, for a long minute before squeezing his eyes shut and taking a deep breath. “I literally hate you.” He said simply, turning and walking into his own room, tactfully decorated with an excess of books, excellent student examples of posters for book reports from previous years, and drawings that students had given him ranging from stick men to intricate paintings. 

They were a month into the fall semester at this point, all of Louis’ student’s settling into the routine. His creative writing class was already working on their third small piece, and he had just finished grading his first Literature essays. 

The semester may only be a month underway, but his rivalry with Harry was two years in the making, ever since Harry stole the last cup of coffee on his first day at the school. 

_“I don’t want to be here.” Louis announced dully, pouring himself a cup of coffee from the dwindling pot in the A-wing teacher’s lounge. It was the week before school was due to start, and the whole staff was there for mandatory meetings and to set up their rooms for the year. Louis, thankfully, had been able to keep his room from the past two years, so he didn’t have to worry about setting up decorations or anything. Rather, he just needed to decide on desk alignment and restock all of his supplies._

_“We get it, Louis.” Niall rolled his eyes. “Shut up and don’t open your mouth again until you finish the coffee, I can’t listen to you whining this early in the morning. We have six hours of policy meetings to get through today, no one wants to be here.”_

_Louis just stuck his tongue out and stirred two sugars into his mug, settling into an armchair in the corner of the room and obediently staying quiet, choosing instead to glower at everyone that entered the lounge over the rim of said mug. The faces were basically the same as last year- it didn’t seem any teachers had moved wings, and he couldn’t remember anyone retiring or moving except for Mrs. Patterson, and she had been over in the C-wing._

_“Morning, everyone!” Liam bustled in, looking far too awake and happy for someone at 7:30 on the first Monday back. “Lou, Niall! Glad you’re here so early. I’ve got the schedules printed out, sorry for the delay. Had a couple last minute changes.” He began shuffling through the pages for the A wing teachers, handing them out as he muttered the names to himself._

_“Lou, here’s yours,” Liam hummed absentmindedly, holding out the sheet. Louis only grumbled a little bit when he had to get out of his chair to accept it, but was generally pleased with his classes. Now that he had been here five years and Mrs. Patterson was gone, he was one of the more senior English teachers and got the better draw of classes. No more Freshman Composition for him, good riddance. He was pleased to see two periods of AP Literature, two periods of Creative Writing, and one period of sophomore level English. Life was good._

_“Lemme see.” Niall swapped schedules with Louis. “Oh, perfect. We both have an off hour before lunch.” He pursed his lips and nodded his approval._

_Louis grinned. “Why do I feel like that is going to get us in trouble?” He went back to refill his coffee mug, only to find someone pouring the last of the coffee into their mug. This was an unfamiliar someone, based on the view Louis was getting from behind. He was tall, with dark curls cropped short, broad shoulders and a ridiculous pair of pants on._

_Louis looked around to make sure someone else was aware of this injustice- Angie was always here early and made the first pot of coffee, and everyone knew her coffee tasted better than anyone else’s, and she never made a second pot unless she had a really bad day and worked her way through her travel thermos, and some new guy just went and took the last cup._

_Something hit Louis in the back of the head, and he turned to see Niall giving him a warning look, having thrown a wadded up piece of paper. Louis huffed and gestured at the coffee pot and the boy, a nonverbal ‘are you seeing this shit??’ exuding from his body._

_“Is everything ok?”_

_Louis whipped around to find Tall New Boy With Weird Pants watching him, bemused at Louis gesturing at Niall. He was much more handsome than Louis anticipated, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about that because Louis was known as the Second Hottest Teacher and he intended to hold that ranking. (Zayn, the art teacher, held first place. Which, fair.) Louis opened his mouth to tell Tall New Boy With Weird Pants that no, everything is not ok, you took the last cup of the best coffee, but Niall interrupted him._

_“Everything’s fine, thanks. Louis here is just a bit of a bear in the mornings. I’m Niall, by the way. Are you the new Chem teacher?”_

_New chem teacher? Louis didn’t remember hearing anything about Simon leaving. Good riddance, honestly. That man was a nightmare. Louis had seen kids leaving that room in tears more than once._

_“I am not a bear.” Louis protested, at the same time Tall New Boy spoke._

_“Yeah, I’m Harry Styles. Nice to meet you, Niall.” He flashed a smile, revealing white teeth and a pair of dimples as he extended his hand to the music teacher. “And you, Not-A-Bear-Louis.”_

_Louis accepted the handshake grudgingly, not thrilled to be fraternizing with a coffee thief. “Louis Tomlinson.” He offered a stiff smile. “I teach English, Horan here is the music director.”_

_“Nice.” Harry nodded, sipping his coffee. Louis narrowed his eyes and followed the move. Coffee thief._

_“Oh, perfect! Louis, you’ve met Harry. He’s going to be across from you in 202, d’you mind taking him there after the meetings this morning?” Liam bounded over, warm brown eyes peering into Louis soul and guilting him into saying yes._

_“Anything for you, Liam.” Louis winked dramatically, pinching the vice principal’s bicep and managing not to show his mild irritation at the request. He loved Liam, but he should know that Louis is not the one for the job. Niall, maybe. Better yet, Angie. She was nice to strangers. “Speaking of, I’m heading to the conference room now. I want to make sure I get one of the nice chairs. And maybe there’s coffee left in there.” Louis loaded words didn’t seem to affect Harry at all as he led the new teacher and Niall to the conference room, already half full of their coworkers._

Louis just sighed and took a long sip of the same sought after coffee as he had desired that day. God bless Angie, honestly. He glanced at his watch, humming and watching as his first period students started filtering in, most of them looking as sleepy and cranky as he felt. 

“Mooorning.” Louis drawled, smiling as the kids echoed back sleepy hellos. “Good weekend? Anyone see the new Avengers yet? No spoilers, I just wanna know if it was good.”

He got a mixed bag of replies, nodding along before finally standing as the bell rang. “Ok, great job on the essays overall.” He said, meandering down the desk rows and passing out the graded copies. “The biggest problem I saw was with citations, so we’ll do a refresher on MLA before the next one, ok? I want to believe none of you are knowingly cheating, but there are going to have to be some conversations if you aren’t citing your sources.” 

There are a few sighs as the students looked over their grades, but really, they should expect Louis to be tough. This is an upper level class and he’s had most of them before. 

“Ok, if no one has any questions, we’re starting on Beowulf today.” Louis clapped his hands together and rubbed them, grinning perhaps slightly manically. He really, really likes literature. “Can anyone tell me anything about it?”

He’s greeted with blank stares. Fair enough. 

“No one? Not even the movie? Lucky me, that means I get to talk even more about it.” Louis joked, though a tiny part of him was serious. “Now, Beowulf is actually a poem, and it was written somewhere around 1000 a.d. I know, I know, it sounds incredibly boring already, but!” Louis grinned. “There’s monsters and battles and all the fun things. We’re going to start with the first 10 or so lines today, just dip our toes in, and chat about the history and rhetoric from the time period. Sound good?”

He was sure it probably didn’t sound good to a room full of crabby 17 year olds, but they had to be here and he had to teach them, so he might as well enjoy himself. 

His next two periods passed in much the same fashion, and he found himself wandering to the break room for his off hour to grade papers and eat a snack. He grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl that was usually filled with not too terrible produce stocked by the school, and settled himself in his favorite armchair. 

Just as he was starting to read over the first of the short essays, red marker in hand, the fire alarm went off and he jolted, smearing said red marker across his neck. 

“Fuck.” He hissed, capping the marker and rubbing uselessly at his neck. He made sure his phone was in his pocket and joined the throng of students flooding into the hallway, making eye contact with Niall over a sea of freshman. The music teacher shook his head, neither of them got a memo for a drill today. This must be the real thing.

Since he didn’t have a class to take attendance of, Louis manned the door and made sure everyone filed out of the hallway before meeting back up with Niall. “Whatdya think happened?” Louis asked, fire engines screaming in the distance as the entirety of the school milled around in the parking lot.

“No clue.” Niall hummed, chewing on his bottom lip. “We still get paid if the school burns down, right? Can we take a vacation together?”

 

“See, saying things like that is why the whole senior class thought we were dating a couple years ago, Niall. You need to relax.” Louis rolled his eyes. “But yes, if the school burns down and we still get paid, we can go on vacation.”

“Yes!” Niall beamed, smacking a kiss to Louis cheek and sneaking off towards where Liam and Harry were chatting with a fireman. 

Just as Niall left, the muggy gray skies opened and rain began pouring over them, causing a few girls to screech and a general groan went through the crowd. Louis was among those groaning, immediately remembering that his jacket was draped over the back of his chair, an increasingly unhelpful location. For a split second Louis considered returning for it, as he had yet to see smoke and this was likely just a drill, but that wouldn’t look good in front of the students. Also, Louis had threatened Liam with disembowelment if he didn’t receive fair warning about drills, and Liam had yet to fail him, so maybe this was the real thing. 

Niall returned, cackling gleefully despite the rain. “Harry set off the alarm.” He announced in hushed tones. “He was doing some experiment, showing how different salts burn different colors, and some splashed and hit a piece of paper and started smoking. That what set the alarm off. Nothing’s on fire, they’re doing a quick walkthrough and then we can go back in.

Part of Louis found this hilarious, that Harry was such an idiot that he couldn’t use proper fire safety skills. Louis was a bloody english teacher and he knew not to keep papers near a flame. Most of Louis was increasingly pissed off, however, as his nice blue button down continued to soak up the rain. He hated being wet, and this was one of his favorite shirts. 

Someone closer to the door must’ve gotten the go-ahead, as the throng of people in the parking lot started filing back into the building. Louis joined them, wracking his brains to try and remember if the spare shirt he kept behind his desk was there or if he had ended up having to wear it and forgot to replace it. He hurried to his classroom, opening all of the drawers before accepting defeat: his spare shirt was gone. Heaving a sigh, he trudged to the teachers bathroom and took off the blue button down, using the hand dryer to try and expedite the process. His undershirt was only slightly damp, which was a small miracle considering how wet his button down was. Even so, the white tee was wet enough that it clung to him a touch more than usual, allowing the tattoos on his chest to make themselves visible if you looked close enough. 

“Oh, sorry.” Harry said, opening the door to the bathroom and averting his eyes. 

“It’s not like I’m naked, Styles, relax.” Louis grumbled, taking Harry’s presence as a cue that the period was over and he should start heading back to his classroom for his creative writing students. He slid the long sleeved shirt over his arms, grumbling to himself when he found it was still more wet than he would have hoped. 

“I um. Have a spare sweater I’m not wearing, if you want to borrow it.” Harry offered tentatively as he stepped to the urinal. 

 

“That ghastly orange and brown thing you had on this morning? No thank you.” Louis scoffed, doing up his buttons and tucking the tails into his pants. “I’d rather get hypothermia.”

 

“You don’t have to be such a prick all the time, Tomlinson, I’m just trying to be nice.” Harry sneered over his shoulder, though Louis wondered if he had gone too far as he saw a flash of what might be hurt in the other man’s eyes.

“Yeah, well, you didn’t have to be an idiot and set the fire alarm off.” Louis countered before he could stop himself, leaving the room and ignoring the small pang of guilt that hit him when the door slammed shut. He went to his classroom, did an exercise where the students wrote a sentence and then passed to the left, elaborating on each other’s stories as the period went by. The rest of the day passed much the same, and he was shrugging off his jacket and packing up his bag when someone knocked on his door frame. He looked up, finding two of his favorite students, Maggie and Tristan, standing in the doorway. 

“Hello hello.” Louis said cheerfully as he did the last zip on his bag. “What’s up?”

The pair stepped inside, smiling nervously. “Hey Mr. T. We were wondering...well, we’re trying to start an LGBT club for the school. Like an afterschool thing once a week, trying to make a safe place for kids and provide tips for allies and stuff. And we have to have a teacher agree to be a faculty leader..sponsor kind of thing. Basically a chaperone for the meetings and like, a point person if we wanted to do some events. Anyway, we were wondering if you would be willing to?”

Louis didn’t hesitate, didn’t consider any other obligations he might have. “Absolutely. Do you have the forms for me to sign already or do you still need those? I can grab some from the office if you don’t know where they are.”

Maggie beamed and produced a few forms. “No, we’ve already got them. Thank you so much, Mr. T.” 

Louis just grinned and grabbed his favorite pen from the cup on his desk. “It’s no trouble at all, Maggie, I’m honored you asked. He was scribbling his signature on the line when his eyes found Harry’s name on the line above it. “Is uh. Is Mr. Styles also going to be a leader?” 

Tristan nodded eagerly. “Yup. We figured since it might be a little..controversial, it would be better to have two adults to back us up. We already knew we were going to ask you, but Mr. Styles overheard us when we were getting the forms and he offered to help out too.”

“That’s great.” Louis forced out. “I’m proud of you guys for doing this, I wish I had something like it when I was your age.” He winked. He wasn’t necessarily in the closet, but he also didn’t go around touting his personal life to his students. He figured most of them knew, and the ones who didn’t probably didn’t care. 

Maggie and Tristan just smiled, sharing a quick glance as if this was confirming their suspicions. “We need to get to the bus, but thanks again Mr. T. See you tomorrow!” They joined the throng of students making their way through the halls to various exits, leaving Louis to lock up his classroom and wade through the crowds all the same. 

It took him an extra moment to remember that he had parked in Harry’s spot this morning, redirecting his steps a bit to the left of the lot from where he usually parked. It was still drizzling, so he put up the hood of his jacket and squinted against the rain, walking as quickly as he could without breaking into a genuine jog to reach his blue sedan. 

“What have I gotten myself into.” Louis sighed, pulling at his lip before starting the car and reversing, making the fifteen minute drive to his townhouse on the north side of the city. It was nice, the perfect size for him and his cat, with room enough for a few visitors when he had them. 

“Hi, pretty one.” Louis cooed as said cat greeted him at the door. She was a long haired tortoiseshell called Millie, the absolute queen of his heart. “How are we today, hm? I know, you want dinner, you only love me for my opposable thumbs.” He rolled his eyes as the cat voiced her opinions about dinnertime before trotting off towards the kitchen, looking over her shoulder to make sure he was following. 

Maybe Harry would drop out once he knew Louis was going to chaperone too, Louis mused as he portioned out some wet food for Millie. That would be nice. He reached for a handful of grapes from his fridge, not quite ready to commit to making dinner for himself. Instead he went upstairs to change out of his still damp clothes and into a pair of sweatpants and an oversized hoodie that may or may not have belonged to an ex-boyfriend… Louis just couldn’t remember which one. He traipsed back downstairs and settled on the couch, throwing on a rerun of Parks and Rec before selecting a stack of papers to grade. Millie joined him and settled into his lap, disrupting his papers and purring loudly as he rolled his eyes and scratched behind her ears. “Menace.” He muttered, eyes flicking between the screen and the papers. He gave up grading before the episode was even over, too tired from the long day and too in his head about spending time with Harry for this club. The papers could wait. He settled further into the couch, smiling as Millie moved to his chest, purring quietly. 

His phone chirped, and Louis fished it out of the pocket of his sweatpants to find a text from Niall.

**I literally hate my life one of the kids tried to tell me elton john was in the beatles this is george harrison erasure**

_lmfao at least theyve heard of them. wtf are u talking about the beatles for tho_

**idk i cant control these demons. i think one of them was wearing an elton shirt**

_lol gotta crack the whip niall music appreciation shouldnt be an easy a_

**fuck off. everyone was just extra amped after the fire alarm**

_dont remind me im still pissed. i never did dry off_

**youre always looking for a reason to be pissed at him tho u need to get over it**

_i dont need to get over anything he started this shit im just continuing it_

**ur a fucking idiot**

_love you too niall. besides i now have to hang out with him after school too. kids asked me to sponsor a new lgbt club and hes the second teacher sponsor_

**are you gonna be able to hold it together**

_i will if he does_

All Louis received in return was the eyeroll emoji and a reply that dinner was ready and Niall would talk to him tomorrow. Louis pouted, both at the fact that he was being ignored and at the fact that Niall had a wife to share cooking duties with, the lucky bastard. Louis needed to find someone as perfect as perfect for him as Hope was for Niall. 

“Why don’t you ever make me dinner, Millie? Hm?” Louis asked the cat, who just blinked back at him in response. He sighed heavily and stroked over her soft fur before gently moving her to the couch, ignoring her soft noises of protest, and heading to the kitchen to dig up something to eat. He found some leftover spaghetti that still seemed fresh enough and reheated it, sprinkling on a generous portion of parmesan before digging in. It wasn’t quite satisfying, but it was better than nothing, so he finished it all and left the bowl in the sink to deal with tomorrow. 

 

The approval to start an LGBT club was granted two weeks later, with Liam thrilled at the prospect of more inclusive clubs. “Thanks so much for taking this on, Louis. I want everyone to feel safe here, ya know? This is a step in the right direction.” He had said enthusiastically, finding Louis in the teacher’s lounge before first period. “We’ll put out an announcement about it in the next school newsletter, start spreading the word. In the meantime, you guys are free to set up meeting times and start brainstorming on possible fundraisers- each club is required to hold at least one a year.”

“Sounds good, Liam, thanks.” Louis smiled, filling his thermos with fresh coffee and adding a bit of sugar. “Glad to help, but it’s all on the kids. They approached me with the idea.” He shrugged. “I’m happy to support them.”

Liam just squeezed Louis’ shoulder. “And you’ll be ok with Harry, yeah?” He asked earnestly. “You two are getting along better?”

Louis couldn’t bring himself to disappoint Liam, not so early in the morning. “Yeah, yeah. We’re getting along better. No worries in that department, Liam.” He promised. “We’re both just here for the kids.”

“Good, good. Glad to hear it. I better get going, got meetings all day. Just wanted to let you know everything’s approved. See you for drinks tonight?” Liam asked, hurrying towards the door. 

“Just like every Friday.” Louis teased, waving at Liam’s retreating figure and heading for his own classroom. 

“Maggie!” He called, seeing his student chatting to a couple of other girls near her locker. “Just wanted to let you know that Mr. Payne has approved everything, we’re good to go on the club.” He smiled kindly, breaking into a laugh as Maggie cheered and high fived him. 

“I’ve got to go tell Tristan. We were thinking every other Wednesday, after school, if that works for you Mr. T?”

Louis nodded. “That should be just fine. I’ll double check with Mr. Styles and let you know, then we can have the newspaper club print it in the monthly newsletter.” He smiled. “See you in class, yeah?”

Maggie nodded eagerly and bounded through the halls, leaving Louis to mosey his way through the halls to his room. 

He found Styles unlocking the chemistry room, their routines like clockwork. “Harry.” Louis greeted, the name feeling somewhat foreign on his tongue, too used to referring to the man by his surname. It seemed to startle the other man too, causing him to turn around rather quickly and narrow his eyes in confusion. 

“Louis.” Harry replied cautiously, opening his door and putting the doorstop underneath to keep it open.  
“Liam approved the club.” Louis informed, unlocking his own door and propping it open. “Maggie and Tristan were thinking every other Wednesday afternoon, if that works for you.”

Harry pursed his lips and seemed to look through a mental calendar. “That should work, yeah.” He confirmed.

“Good, ok.” Louis said awkwardly, not sure what to say next. He wasn’t sure they had conversed this long without a poorly veiled insult before. “Um. I’m anticipating some complaints from parents, maybe even students. It’s best we… it’s best we have a uh… united front, if you will. In the club.”

Harry allowed a tiny smile to grace his lips. “I agree.” He said politely, allowing his gaze to meet Louis. 

“Good, good.” Louis nodded awkwardly. “Well uh.” He nodded again, before fleeing into his classroom and collapsing into his chair to take a large gulp of coffee, hardly noticing the way it burned his throat. 

Why did the sight of Harry’s smile make his heart race like that? 

 

\---

Their first club meeting was scheduled for the second Wednesday of October, delayed by parent-teacher conferences, which Louis was loathe to be sitting in currently. They were his least favorite two days of the semester- the parents with kids that were excelling never seemed to be satisfied with his praise, those with kids who were struggling didn’t seem willing to provide support for the students, there was always at least one single parent (or sometimes not single) that tried to hit on him, and half of the parents didn’t seem to show up. Still, it was mandated that he host them along with the rest of the school, and so here he was, wearing a polite smile as he chatted with family after family and hoping Millie wouldn’t be too upset with him that dinner was a bit late.

As Louis walked Mr. and Mrs. Fischer out of his room with a polite wave and thanks for coming, he found his next appointment, Mrs. Scott, waiting for him. She was an uptight-looking woman, with a pinched face and narrow shoulders and big, watery eyes. She reminded him a bit of a chihuahua. 

“Hi, Mrs. Scott.” Louis smiled warmly. “Come on in. Would you like a bottle of water?” He offered, going to sit at his desk as she took the allocated chair opposite him. 

“No, thank you.” She said primly, shuffling around in her purse. 

“No worries. Overall, I’m quite pleased with Hunter’s performance this semester. He’s quiet, that’s for certain, but he’s a good writer and I’m very impressed with the progre-”  
“I’m sure he’s doing fine. I’m more concerned with why you’re filling these children’s heads with your… your… filth.” She hissed, finally producing a piece of paper from her bottomless purse and pointing aggressively at what he could now see was the October newsletter, the announcement for the LGBT club taking up a good third of the page. ‘Led by Mr. Tomlinson and Mr. Styles in Mr. Tomlinson’s room, A-105 starting Wednesday, October 9.’

Louis raised his eyebrows, schooling the anger away from his face as he brought his steely blue eyes to meet her gaze. “I’m not sure I understand.” He said calmly. “I see no ‘filth’ here, just a student-led organization that I host.” 

She seemed to grow even more upset at his lack of response, crumpling the paper in her hands. “You know very well. This is not natural, it’s not right, and you’re guiding these children into this lifestyle. I will not have my Hunter be apart of this, I will not have you corrupting him.” 

Louis swallowed back his rage once more. “Mrs. Scott, the way you are speaking to me is inappropriate.” He said, still calculatedly calm. “There is nothing wrong with being LGBT, and this is simply an after school program led by students to provide a safe place for LGBT and straight ally students. Hunter does not have to participate if he does not wish to.” 

“Inappropriate!” She scoffed, voice raising. “You’re teaching these kids to follow your unnatural ways, you’re filling their heads with these ideas! Do you even teach them English or is that just a front for your…agenda?!”

“Ma’am if we aren’t going to discuss Hunter’s progress in my class I am going to have to ask you to leave.” Louis said firmly. “My sexuality is not a topic of discussion in any of my classes, and my primary concern is the safety of my students. I am supervising this after school club in order to advocate for their safety and security as individuals in this school.”

It was then that there was a knock on the door, and Harry cracked it open quietly. “Sorry to interrupt, Mr. Tomlinson. I was just getting ready to leave and I thought I heard yelling. I just wanted to make sure everything was ok.” 

Louis had never been so happy to see Harry. “Thank you, Mr. Styles.” He said stiffly. “Mrs. Scott was just leaving.” 

The woman stood, practically shaking with anger. “You’re the other one, then.” She muttered. “I’ll be complaining to the school board, you’re both… perverts. I won’t have Hunter exposed to you.” She brushed past Harry, paper still clutched in her hands. Harry let the door close behind her and locked it with a quiet click. 

“Are you ok?” He asked softly, and Louis wasn’t sure what came over him, but a few hot, angry tears spilled when Harry spoke. 

“I’m fine.” Louis said, quickly brushing them away. “Thank you for checking in, I appreciate it.”  
Harry nodded, bringing the box of tissues near the door closer to Louis. “What an awful woman.” He murmured, a certain softness in his eyes that Louis was unaccustomed to seeing. 

“Yeah.” Louis scoffed, accepting a tissue and pressing it against his eyes once more before scrubbing over his face and taking a deep breath. “But that’s why we’re doing this, isn’t it? To give the kids something safe from that.”

Harry nodded, setting the box down. “Yeah.” He echoed quietly. “Still. She shouldn’t talk to you like that. To imply you’re not a good teacher, that you’ve got some… malicious agenda with the kids. You’re one of the most passionate teachers I know, that’s awful of her to imply that you’ve got some nefarious intent.”

Louis found himself blushing. “Thanks, Styles.” He murmured, cracking his knuckles out of nervous habit. “Think I’ve got one more appointment waiting for me, should let them in.” He took a deep breath. “I don’t look like I’ve been crying, do I? Hate I let her do that to me.”

Harry shook his head. “You shouldn’t feel bad for having emotions.” He said firmly. “But in any case, no, you look just fine.” He promised, offering a soft smile and walking with Louis to the door, going to lock up his own room while Louis welcomed in Maggie’s parents. 

It ended the note on a high, certainly, with Louis being able to give glowing compliments of Maggie as a student, their parent’s obvious pleasure that she was doing so well, and both parties excitement at the start of the club. They chatted a few minutes longer than the allotted 15 minutes, and Louis showed them out with a wide smile and the previous drama forgotten. He packed up his bag and locked up his room, a bit startled to find Harry waiting for him in the hallway. 

“Thought you finished up.” Louis said, falling into step with the taller man as they made their way through the hallways. There was still a palpable awkwardness between them, two years of disagreements and taunts didn’t easily disappear. 

“Yeah,” Harry shrugged, his worn leather bag slung over one shoulder. “Figured I would wait for you.”

“Oh.” Louis said, not sure how to respond. “Uh. Thanks.”

Harry simply nodded, allowing them to walk in silence for a few moments before speaking again. “I was thinking maybe we can start walking the halls a bit more, between classes. Parents like that often raise kids with the same views. I had a student come to me this morning asking to wait for first period to start in my room to avoid some bullies. Figure if we’re around, maybe the bullies won’t be so bold.”

Louis was a little surprised- he hadn’t noticed much of that kind of behavior in the school, but it occurred to him he had been spending the time between classes in his room more than he had when he first started teaching. “Yeah, alright.” He agreed. “I’ll start getting here a bit earlier, get my room set up so I can hang out in the halls before first period. I can wander some between classes too.”

Harry smiled, opening the door to the cool evening air, already carrying a slight bite of winter. “Sounds good, I’ll do the same. See you tomorrow?” He said, their paths diverging slightly as they made their way towards their respective cars. 

“See you tomorrow, Styles.” Louis agreed, unlocking his car and driving home in silence, letting the sounds of the wind soothe him as he tried to let the stress of the day leave his body. He was determined not to let that awful woman get under his skin. He unlocked his door to find Millie waiting impatiently for him, tail twitching irritably in the entryway. 

“I’m sorry, love, I know it’s late.” Louis apologized, toeing off his shoes and hanging up his bag. “I’m hungry too, come on then.” 

She watched, him, unimpressed, until her bowl was full and she brushed against his ankle in thanks. Louis found the makings of a quick stir-fry in his fridge and ate it standing in the kitchen, sipping a beer between bites before wandering upstairs, stripping out of his dress pants and shirt, and collapsing into bed with Millie tucked into the curve of his back. He blearily fired off an email to Liam filling him in on the incident, but was asleep as soon as he pressed send. 

 

Liam came to find him at lunch the next day, walking into the lounge where Niall and Louis were swapping chips and Harry was standing at the microwave, warming some leftovers. 

“Heya, mate.” Liam greeted. “I just wanted to come chat, I got your email this morning. She did file a complaint, but the superintendent and I chatted and agreed you’re not in the wrong, especially since Harry heard her yelling at you and not the other way around. I’m really sorry it happened, Tommo.”

Louis just waved Liam off, swallowing his bite of sandwich and ignoring the way Harry’s head jerked around at the mention of his name. “Don’t worry about it, Li. There’s always going to be shitty people. She’s not pulling Hunter out, is she?”

Liam rolled his eyes. “She wanted him switched to a new English class, but none really fit in with his schedule without moving everything, and he’s 18 so I told her she can’t really force him but that you were professional and your sexuality isn’t a topic of discussion in class. Didn’t seem to please her, but what else is there to say? She can bloody well move him schools if she likes.”

Louis shrugged. “Up to her, I guess. Hunter is a good kid, I hope he’s doing alright with all of this.” 

They chatted a few more minutes before Liam headed off to do other important assistant principal things, leaving Harry, Louis, and Niall alone again. 

“So you heard all this and stepped in, eh?” Niall asked Harry. “Nice of you. Glad you and Louis are getting along better, getting friendly.” He said cheerfully, having befriended Harry early on and quickly grown tired of the two bickering. 

“If that.” Louis scoffed, almost out of habit as he picked at his sandwich. His mind was racing with thoughts of the conflict, of how Harry had helped him out before things escalated. He had felt helpless that night, terrified for his safety and his kids safety, and he hated that he felt that way. He was so wrapped up in his head that he missed the hurt look that flashed across Harry’s face, the way Niall sighed and rolled his eyes. 

“You know what, Louis, fuck off.” Harry sneered. “You can drop the badass, prick act. No one buys it. See if I do anything for you again, Jesus Christ.”

Louis jolted, brow furrowed, as he wheeled around to glare at Harry. “Oh, get off your high fucking horse, Styles.” He bit back, abandoning his sandwich and stalking out of the lounge, heading towards his classroom, forcing back the tears that pricked in his eyes. Fuck Harry, honestly. Louis didn’t need his help, he was doing just fine. 

 

\---

“Alrighty! This looks like everyone!” Harry smiled, clapping his hands together and standing at the front of the class while Louis leaned against his desk. “Welcome to the inaugural meeting of the first ever LGBT club, organized by our very own Maggie and Tristan and lead by me and Mr. Tomlinson.” He propped his hands on his hips. “I think the plan for today is keep it short and sweet. Introductions, brainstorming some ideas for events, et cetera. I also want to make a list of guidelines for this club. A code of conduct, if you will, rules that we follow to make sure everyone feels safe. We can also start a list of things you guys want to get out of this club. I’ll start, if everyone is ready.” Harry continued, grabbing an Expo marker and starting two columns on the whiteboard at the front of the room. Louis had to stop himself from telling Harry that was his favorite marker and please be careful.

“I’m Mr. Styles, my favorite color is blue, and this is my third year teaching chemistry here. When I was young I wanted to be a singer, but then I learned I could safely make things explode so I changed my mind and went to college.” He winked playfully. “I want to make it a rule that anything you say in this room stays safe between us, unless I think it is more important to everyone’s safety that I speak with another trusted adult. As far as something I want to get out of this group, I don’t know much about LGBT history, and I would love to learn more. Mr. Tomlinson?”

Louis jolted from his thoughts, somewhat enraptured by Harry’s change in demeanor in his ‘teaching’ mode. It was clear he enjoyed teaching, and the way he kept going on about guidelines and charting things out made it obvious he was somewhat rigid, which Louis supposed made sense for a chem teacher. He was also learning more about Harry than he ever had in two years of knowing him, which made him feel like something of a shitty person for disliking someone with no grounds. 

“Thanks, Mr. Styles.” Louis cleared his throat awkwardly. “I’m Mr. Tomlinson, my favorite color is green, and I have a cat named Millie who is the love of my life. I’ve taught English here for seven years, it’s my dream job, and English is obviously the better subject.” He joked, ignoring Harry’s affronted whine. “I want to make a rule that we have an open door policy outside this club- you can come to me or Mr. Styles with any bad feelings or just to talk, anything like that, no matter what. I don’t care if it is five years from now, shoot us an email and we will always be here to listen. Like Mr. Styles said, if we think it is best for your safety, we might involve someone else that we trust, but other than that, it will stay between us. And as for something I want to learn…” Louis paused, pursing his lips. “I guess I would be interested in reading more queer literature. Maybe we can have a little book club aspect of this.” He shrugged. 

“While I love the idea of a book club, I would like to take this opportunity to remind Mr. Tomlinson that science is way cooler than english.” Harry intoned playfully.

“Watch it, Styles.” Louis said, only mostly joking. “I’m scrappy, I’ll take you down.”

The kids laughed, and each in turn went around to introduce themselves. By the end of their time, the whiteboard was full of rules and learning opportunities, as well as ideas for programs or fundraisers. Louis vowed to get an official poster made for the club, and they all decided to vote on their first fundraiser at the next meeting. The kids all filed out, and Harry stuck around to help Louis clean up the mess left by their provided snacks and note taking. 

Louis paused, watching Harry as he bent to collect a few stray candy wrappers, a stray curl falling in front of his face and his button down pulled taut against his back. He was starting to look at his coworker differently, starting to appreciate small things like his careful handwriting and the way he interacted with their students, making sure each one of them was heard. 

“You’re really good with the kids.” Louis whispered before he could stop himself, blushing and busying himself with taking pictures of the board before he erased it.

“What?” Harry stood, hands full of trash, a bit confused. 

“I said you have smelly pits.” Louis tossed over his shoulder, taking an eraser to Harry’s lists on the board. 

Harry just smirked to himself, not allowing Louis to see the smug look on his face. “Yeah, ok Louis.”

The pair finished cleaning up and wandered out to their cars, a companionable silence between them as they wandered the halls. 

“I think that went really well.” Louis finally spoke, glancing up at Harry. Oh, god. He has little freckles, who allowed that. What the fuck is going on. 

“Yeah, me too.” Harry confirmed, a lopsided smile on his face. “They’re good kids. I wish I had something like this when I was their age.”

“Me too.” Louis said lamely. “I uh… never thought to ask. Are you…?”

“Queer.” Harry confirmed simply. “Not really big on labels, ya know? Love is love.” He shrugged. 

Louis nodded. “I get that.” He murmured. “I’m gay, if you didn’t know.” They opened the doors and shivered against the chilly air. “Um. See you tomorrow, I guess.”

“Yeah, have a good night, Louis.” Harry waved, the lights flashing on his car as he clicked the fob to unlock it, both of them heading to their respective homes.

Louis lay awake in bed that night, Millie purring against his chest, as he considered the events of the day. 

Maybe Harry wasn’t so bad. 

 

\---

It was a week later, a foggy Friday morning, when Niall informed Louis that Harry would now be joining them for drinks that night. It was a long standing tradition involving Zayn, Liam, Niall, and Louis, having started when Louis and Liam were new hires and among the youngest on staff. Niall joined a year later, and Zayn a year after that, and very rarely had they missed a Friday. 

“I just figured now that you two can be in the same room without killing each other, he can join the crew. He’s been here two years, Lou, and the bloke still hardly has any friends to hang out with outside work. Every time I ask him if he has plans he says something to the effect of having a beer on his couch.” Niall said, pushing the coffee pot towards Louis after filling his mug. 

Louis fish-mouthed at the information, trying to find some reason Harry shouldn’t join them. But Niall was right, damn him for always taking in strays. Literally, sometimes- his wife Hope threatened to leave him if he brought in one more abandoned pet. They had three dogs, two cats, and a lizard- the house was practically overflowing. 

“Fine.” Louis sighed. “I suppose he can join us for drinks. But don’t expect me to be best friends with him.” He warned, filling his own thermos. “Usual spot, then?”

“Yep, same time same place.” Niall said cheerfully, glad to have won this round. “See you at lunch, mate.” 

Louis rolled his eyes and bumped shoulders with Niall good naturedly, heading to his own classroom and unlocking the door. He made it through the day without any major incidents: they did a timed short essay to finish up Beowulf with his Literature students, peer-reviewed their short stories in creative writing, and started Of Mice and Men in his English 2 class. He was exhausted by the end of the day, but in the pleasant way of knowing his kids did good work and he helped them do it. He locked up, almost running into Harry as he headed into the hallway, managing to keep himself from swearing in surprise in front of a bunch of freshman. 

“Hey, Mr. Styles.” Louis said, clearing his throat and adjusting his bag on his shoulder. “Have a good weekend.” He said, trying to keep things professional in front of the kids. The little monsters were ridiculous gossips, if he let slip they were getting drinks later, the whole school would think they were married by Monday.

Harry had a slightly sad look on his face. “Yeah… you too, Mr. Tomlinson.” He said softly, hurrying through the crowd before Louis could even fall into step with them as had become something of a forced habit. 

“Weird.” Louis muttered to himself before shrugging it off and wandering through the halls, high fiving several students as he made his way out the doors and to his car. 

He had been home for close to an hour and was staring at his closet trying to figure out what to wear when his phone range, Niall popping up on the caller ID. 

“Hey, Ni.” Louis answered, propping the phone between his shoulder and ear as he continued to sift through his closet. 

“You have some fucking balls, Louis. Why are you such a douche?” Niall demanded, tone noticeably angry. 

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Louis demanded, straightening his posture and holding the phone to his ear properly, brows furrowed as he tried to think through any pranks he may have forgotten about. 

“Harry just texted and said he doesn’t want to be the reason that you aren’t coming, said he’ll stay home so that you can go out. What the fuck, mate? I thought you said you could be civil?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about! Of course I can, I would never make him stay home. I’m literally getting dressed to go out right now, Niall, I don’t know what the hell he’s going on about!” Louis said, getting more and more upset. He might be a bit abrasive with Harry, but he wasn’t such a dick that he would cancel plans just to avoid the man, not when it had already been decided they were all five going out. 

Niall paused, the silence tense. “Call him then. Fix this, I want both of your dramatic, petty asses at the bar by seven.”

“Fucking hell, fine then.” Louis muttered. “Dramatic my ass, you’re the one calling me and jumping down my throat about some nonsense.” He hung up, scrolling through his contacts until he landed on Harry. He pressed call, crossing his arms and tapping his foot impatiently as he finally decided on a red scoop neck shirt, denim jacket, and black jeans. 

“Hi.” Harry answered cautiously, apprehension clear in his voice.  
“Hi.” Louis replied, raising one eyebrow. “Care to explain why Niall just called and yelled at me for bullying you into not coming out tonight?”

“I- you know what, fuck you, Louis.” Harry snapped. “What, you just wanted all of us to be waiting around for you and then figure you’re not coming because you’re bitter about me being there?”

“I was always going to come!” Louis exploded, throwing his free hand up. “I literally told Niall I was fine with you being there. I was getting ready when he called to bitch me out!”

“You what?” Harry said, all the venom gone from his voice. “Then why the fuck did you get all passive aggressive and say to have a good weekend like you wouldn’t see me?”

Louis sat on the bed, rested his head on his hand, and found unexpected laughter bubbling out of his chest. “Because.” He explained calmly, though there was a smile in his voice. “Because we were surrounded by fourteen year olds who assume teachers have no social lives. The rumors would have been flying around the school by Monday if any of them heard we hung out together outside of class.” 

Harry was silent for a long minute before sighing heavily. “I’m never going to live this down, am I?”

“Absolutely not.” Louis giggled. “I’ll see you at seven, Harry.” 

The other four were already seated at their usual booth in the back of the bar when Louis arrived, about ten minutes late. Part of him had delayed to make them second guess whether he actually would bail, but most of it was just that Millie looked extra cute and he couldn’t handle leaving her. He motioned towards the waitress for another round and settled down in the booth next to Liam. 

“Lads.” He greeted cheerfully, shrugging off his jacket and adjusting his shirt slightly. He felt Harry’s eyes drag over the tattoos that were kept hidden away by the dress code at work and smirked to himself, thanking the waitress and taking a sip of his drink 

“Louis.” Niall greeted solemnly, raising his glass in a mock toast. “My apologies for my earlier behavior.”

 

“Apology not accepted Niall, I fully expect you to take my detention shifts for the next three weeks.” Louis sniffed primly, taking another swig of his drink before setting it down on the coaster. The boys were only able to keep up the facade for a few more moments before wide grins broke across their faces, and Liam groaned as Louis tried to reach around him to shove Niall playfully. 

“Can we not?” Liam whined. “It’s trivia this week, I wanna win. We gotta focus.” 

“Oh, it is trivia, isn’t it?” Louis mused. The bar had a different event every Friday, and once a month was trivia night. “Do we have our sheets yet?” 

“Yup.” Harry raised the slip of paper and his pencil. “We just need a team name to tell them. I nominate that we are the Avogad-bros.”

Louis groaned and threw his head back. “That’s awful, Harry. No one gets the chemistry puns but you.”

“You clearly understood it.” Harry grinned, eyes lighting up. 

“Only because you make a pun off that guys name like, every other week. We should be something cool, like… Tequila Mockingbird.” Louis said. “Also, we need some tequila.”

“No, no tequila.” Zayn interjected. “Last time we got tequila things ended very, very badly.”

“I don’t remember that.” Louis frowned.

“That’s because you drank most of the tequila.” Liam supplied helpfully.

“Nobody asked you, Liam, so kindly fuck off.” 

“I’m writing Avogad-bros.” Harry decided as the host came around to get their team name.

“Nooooo.” Louis whined. “I’m staring a pun jar for you, Harry. It’s like a swear jar but you have to put a dollar in every time you make a dumb pun. I bet I’d have enough for a bottle of tequila pretty quickly.” Harry just stuck his tongue out. 

“This is fascinating.” Niall said to no one in particular. “It’s like some weird mating ritual. Are they in love?”

“Fuck off, Niall.” Louis and Harry said in unison, making eye contact. Louis took a large gulp of his drink, hoping he could blame the blush on his cheeks on the alcohol. 

By the end of the night they were third in Trivia, with Liam saving them in the pop culture section (“I have to keep up with the kids!”), Zayn in geography (“Maps are cool.” while shrugging), and Niall obviously getting them a perfect score in the music section. Louis and Harry were both absolutely useless, instead getting increasingly drunker. 

“Ok, folks, this is the last question. This is a hard one, so it’s worth triple points- our top three teams are all within a few points of each other, so this could make or break the score card. Who was the only Californian to win the Nobel Prize for literature?”

“Grapes of Wrath.” Louis said firmly, slamming his hand on the table. 

“That’s a book, who wrote it?” Liam asked, staring at Louis as the timer ticked down. 

Louis fish-mouthed at him, brain blank from all of the tequila. (Shut up, Zayn.) “Grapes of Wrath.” He repeated simply, blinking at Liam. “Grapes of Wrath.”

“Yes, but who wrote Grapes of Wrath?” Liam repeated, hand poised to write. 

“John Steinbeck!” Harry remembered, almost a little too loudly. Luckily the teams around them didn’t seem to hear, and Liam scribbled down the name and passed the paper off to the host. 

“Yes.” Louis pointed at Harry. “Him. Good.”

“I saw the book on your shelf this week. I liked the colors.” Harry nodded solemnly, curls bouncing while his ruddy cheeks made his somewhat glossy green eyes pop even more. 

“It’s a good book.” Louis hummed, tracing vaguely phallic patterns in the condensation of his glass. The host had received all of the papers, and was tallying up the right answers.

“Ok!” The host announced into his microphone. “Final numbers are in, and there’s been a bit of an upset! Moving from third place to first place is The Avogad-bros! Congrats guys, you each get a T-Shirt and a $10 gift card for next time you come in.”

“Wehey!!” Louis cheered, throwing up his hands as they all high fived, missing which team came in second and third. “Big up on Harold for listening to me!”

Harry just laughed, not seeming to mind the slight exaggeration. “Big up on Louis for reading books.” He corrected, only slightly slurring his words. “I guess it’s time to go home, huh?” He pouted. 

All of them softly nodded their assent, Niall and Liam with partners to go home to, Zayn to his menagerie of pets, and Louis to his cat. 

“Wanna share an Uber?” Louis offered Harry, blinking up at him sleepily. The other boys all lived on the opposite side of town from Louis, but Harry’s house was close to him. 

“Mmkay.” Harry hummed, clumsily tapping through his phone to order the car, wandering after Louis to the bar’s exit and shivering on the sidewalk as they waited impatiently. Louis’ head was swimming pleasantly, just enough alcohol in him to lower his inhibitions without making him nauseous. The pair bundled into the car as it pulled up, taking them to Harry’s house, which was the closer building. 

“D’you wanna come up for a bit?” Harry asked abruptly as they pulled up in front of his house. “I have some…” he raised two fingers to his lips and mimed smoking. 

Louis’ eyes lit up. “Sure.” He agreed brightly, stumbling out of the car after Harry. There was a voice in the back of his head telling him maybe this wasn’t a good idea, but it had been a while since he had smoked anything other than an occasional stress cigarette, the random drug tests for the quarter had already been conducted, and he was tipsy enough to not listen to the reasonable side of him. 

Louis woke to sun streaming across his face, mouth cottony with morning breath and the pot they had consumed, in a fluffy white duvet which was most definitely not his own, in a pale blue room that was definitely not his own, and delicate snores that were definitely not his own. Shakily, Louis peeked under the covers to find them both nude, and the night came rushing back to him. Sharing a joint on the porch turned into a playful argument turned into sloppy kisses turned into a race to the bedroom, and oh, God. 

He slept with Harry Styles.

Fully panicking now, Louis eased himself from under the covers and threw on his clothes as quickly as possible, glancing over his shoulder at his still sleeping coworker and practically running from the house. He didn’t even bother calling a car, just kept jogging the mile to his own townhome. He was winded quicker than he would care to admit, and not at all wearing the right clothes, but the weather was surprisingly warm for late October and it gave him time to think over the previous nights events. He slept with Harry, his self proclaimed nemesis, and it had been good. Unfairly good, like their hate fueled them and led both of them to attempt to outdo each other. 

Except, did he hate Harry?

Louis was breathing heavily from the unplanned jog as he unlocked the front door to his town home, Millie greeting him with a chorus of upset meows. 

“I know, I know, I’m sorry.” Louis murmured, petting her and filling her food dish promptly, which seemed to satisfy her. He began pacing the kitchen, stopping briefly by the sink to rinse his mouth in the tap and then chug a few gulps of water. 

It only took about five minutes of that before he was out the door again, keys in hand. He drove to Niall’s house, making the turns with practiced ease, knocking at the door before he heard barking from the backyard. He walked around the side of the house, let himself in through the gate, and waded through an exuberant group of dogs to collapse in a lawn chair. Niall and Hope, both in the garden weeding and tending to their small patch of fall vegetables, hardly looked up to acknowledge his presence. 

“I slept with Harry.” Louis finally announced dully, petting Honey and Hula, Niall’s two big mutts, while the little terrier mix called Tiny Tim curled up in his lap. 

To his credit, Niall didn’t laugh or even really act surprised at all, only raising his eyebrows and making brief eye contact with his wife. “And?” he prompted, tugging a particularly tough weed. 

“And I hate Harry.” 

“No you don’t. Was he good? Do you even remember it?”

“So good.” Louis sighed heavily, slouching further into the lawn chair, Honey moving closer to sniff his ear and lick his cheek. The ‘no you don’t’ that Niall had replied with was echoing through his head, making Louis ears ring and his heart rate pick up with anxiety. 

“Harry hates me.” Louis whispered, thinking of all the shitty things he had done to the boy over the last two years. 

“No, he doesn’t.” Niall rolled his eyes, standing up and brushing the dirt off his knees. 

Louis lurched forward, head in his hands, wondering if he was about to puke. “I love Harry.” He whispered. “Oh, god. Fuck, Niall. What do I do?”

Niall made panicked eye contact with Hope, who shrugged helpfully, heading towards the open back door. 

“I mean. Talk to him?” Niall said, dropping into a patio chair beside Louis and allowing Tiny Tim to jump from Louis’ lap to his.

“Oh, yeah.” Louis scoffed. “Hey, Harry. You know how I’ve been an absolute douchebag to you the last two years? Just kidding, I love you. Want to go on a date?” He slouched somehow lower into the chair, pouting. 

“Seriously, though.” Niall encouraged. “Honesty is the best policy.”

“He hates me, Niall. Like, hates me. Sure we’ve been civil lately, but you can’t just erase that history!” Louis threw his hands up, eyes welling up slightly. “What have I done, honestly?” 

Hope returned with three glasses of iced cider, pressing one into Louis’ hand alongside a somehow still warm scone.

“Is there alcohol in this?” Louis asked hopefully. 

“Obviously.” Hope scoffed, taking the last available chair across from Niall and Louis. “Who do you think I am?” 

“The most wonderful woman on the planet, that’s who.” Louis sighed gratefully. “I’d marry you if I were straight. You would leave Niall for me, right?”

“Oh, obviously.” Hope said solemnly. “I’ve only stuck around this long because I keep waiting for the opportunity to turn you.”

“Heyyyy.” Niall pouted. 

At that moment Louis phone rang, Harry’s number clear on caller ID. “Oh, god.” Louis whimpered, chewing his bottom lip anxiously as the obnoxious preset Apple tone continued to ring. “What do I do?” 

“Answer it, you dumbass.” Hope threw her hands up in exasperation. “What the hell is worst case scenario? Things stay the same? Best case you both declare your undying love and have lots of little adopted babies.”

“Worst case is he hates me forever, moves away, never sees me again but occasionally leaves burning poo bags on my porch to remind me that he hates me forever.” Louis moaned. 

Niall promptly smacked Louis on the back of his head. “Answer it, idiot. Before it goes to voicemail.”

With both of them glowering over him like disapproving parents, Louis reluctantly took a big swig of the cider and slid the bar to answer the call. He cleared his throat awkwardly. “Um. Hey, Harry.” He said, worrying his lower lip between his teeth. 

Harry seemed slightly caught off guard that Louis had answered, and Louis could practically see the flutter of his eyelashes as he tried to gather himself. “Um. Hi.” His voice was still rough with sleep and Louis found himself smiling softly, not noticing the way that Hope and Niall simultaneously rolled their eyes. “I just… not trying to come off as a clingy, or something. But. You were gone this morning. I just wanted to make sure it wasn’t something I did. Wasn’t sure if I crossed a boundary, or something.”

Louis shook his head before realizing Harry couldn’t see that through the phone. “No. No. I mean, it was a two way street, yeah. I went along same as you.” He cleared his throat again. “I um. I think I just panicked, a little. This morning. I’m sorry I left.”

Harry was quiet for a long moment. “I mean. It’s fine, I guess.” He said awkwardly. “I don’t want to like, force you into anything. This can be the end of it, we don’t have to talk about it again. Pretend it didn’t happen.” 

“No.” Louis said, a bit too abruptly than he meant to. “No. I um. Don’t want to forget it.” 

“Um. Ok.” Harry said awkwardly. “What… what do you want to do?”

Louis leaned forward, pinching the bridge of his nose and trying to calm his nerves. “Can I come over? So we can chat face to face?”

“I mean. Yeah.” Harry confirmed. “Yeah, ‘course. Um. You know where I am, just. Head over whenever, I guess.” 

Louis nodded. “Ok, yeah. See you in a bit.” He said. “Um. Bye.” He let the call end, a wave of nausea washing over him. 

“Y’alright, Lou? Looking a bit pale.” Niall asked, concerned. 

“I um. I’m going to head over there.” Louis said, taking a deep breath. 

“What are you going to say?” Hope questioned, raising her glass to her lips. “Or are you just getting some dick?” She ignored Niall’s snort, raising her eyebrows at Louis. 

“I’m going to apologize for the last two years. Outside that… I guess we just see what happens.” Louis sigh. “Wish me luck.” He stood, took another swig of cider, then bent to kiss Hope’s cheek and hug Niall. “See you Monday, then.” 

“Good luck, Lou. Keep us posted.” Niall encouraged, squeezing Louis shoulder. 

Louis nodded and took a deep breath. “Yeah. It will all be fine.” He said, heading for his car with a desperate hope for some burst of newfound courage to find him before he reached Harry’s neighborhood. The drive seemed to take eons, but at the same time it felt like he had blinked and found himself idling in front of Harry’s house. He scrubbed over his face before forcing himself to cut the engine and walk the few steps up to the front door, weaving around the various flower pots and knocking three times. 

He heard a bit of shuffling behind the closed door, before Harry opened the door with mussed hair and a pair of sweatpants slung low on his hips. 

“Um, hey. Didn’t expect you quite so soon.” Harry murmured, scratching over the sparse hair on his chest awkwardly. “Um. Coffee?”  
“Sorry.” Louis said, eyes zeroed in on a very clear hickey on Harry’s chest. “Um, yeah. I’d take some coffee.” He said stepping inside as Harry let him pass and toeing his shoes off. 

 

“Right, I’ve got a pot started. I’m gonna go find a shirt.” Harry hummed, running a hand through his already messy hair. 

“Ok.” Louis said weakly, watching the broad expanse of Harry’s shoulders as the man walked upstairs, leaving Louis to find the kitchen and watch the coffee pot fill with dark liquid. 

“So, uh. What did you want to talk about?” Harry asked, startling Louis from his thoughts. The taller man reached into a cabinet, producing two coffee mugs, as well as cream from the fridge and pushing the jar of sugar closer to the coffee. 

“Um. I guess first, I just wanted to apologize. For like, being such a jerk the past two years. I think at first I was just intimidated, and then we started feeding into each other and then it felt like it was going to far to stop, and it just became… I don’t know. Habit isn’t the right word, but something like that. And like, it’s not an excuse. But I am sorry, really. I shouldn’t have treated you like that.” Louis said, fiddling with the coffee mug and watching the liquid lighten up as he added cream, not making eye contact. 

Harry smiled softly, stirring sugar into his own mug. “I owe you an apology too. I fed into it just as much as you, like you said. I said some pretty hurtful things. Forgive and forget, yeah? We’re adults, we can handle it.” 

Louis felt a weight leave his shoulders. “Yeah?”

“Course.” Harry promised, bumping shoulders with Louis slightly playfully. “C’mon, we can drink on the porch.” 

Louis followed Harry obediently to the back garden, memories flooding back at the sight of the porch swing they had occupied last night. 

 

“This is a nice place, in the light.” Louis murmured, admiring the big yard. He wanted a dog, but with his long hours and no doggie door to his little patch of lawn, he couldn’t swing it yet. 

“Thanks. I like it.” Harry confirmed softly. “Been thinking about getting a dog, but I’m not sure I have time.” Louis wondered if Harry could read his mind, but that didn’t seem plausible. 

“Yeah, ‘s hard during the semester for sure. But if you got it during the summer and put in a dog door, maybe.” Louis mused, sipping his coffee. 

“Yeah, maybe.” Harry echoed. “So um. Can we just like… start fresh? Things have never really been civil between us. And I want them to be. I really would like to be friends, at least. It’s hard, having as many mutual friends as we do and feeling like things will be weird if we both go to something.”

 

Friends. Louis felt his heart sink a bit, the little piece of him hoping that maybe Harry would confess his undying love and Louis wouldn’t have to be the one to say anything. 

“Yeah. Yeah, I would like that. Being friends.” Louis confirmed softly, “And I’m sorry, again. For making things so hard between us.”

“Drop it, Lou. We’ve said our apologies, it’s in the past.” Harry said. “We’re friends now.” He grinned, clinking his mug to Louis’ in a mock toast. 

Louis laughed and raised his mug. “Friends.” He said cheerfully. And really, if that was all he got, he was happy. 

Harry seemed just as pleased, taking a careful sip of his coffee. “Um, about last night though.” He blushed. “I guess just… where you stand on it, you know. If you never want to talk about it again, happen again, I dunno.” 

Louis cleared his throat, tracing the rim of his mug. “Last night was… great.” He said, Niall’s words about honesty echoing in his head. “I guess… I dunno. I’m open to anything, I’ll follow your lead I guess. Forget about it, move on, whatever.”

“It was. Good, I mean.” Harry blushed somehow more red. “I um. Am also open to anything.”

“Say what you want to, Hazza. Make a decision.” Louis laughed, the nickname slipping out of his mouth before he could catch it. 

Harry just whined, resembling a tomato at this point. “I guess, I would suggest… I dunno. Friends with benefits. If that’s something you’re open to. ‘S hard, dating during the school year.” He hid his face in his coffee mug, forcing a small, endeared smile onto Louis lips. 

“I think…” Louis started carefully. “I think we should just try friends for a while. Make sure that is working. And if it happens again organically like it did last night, then that’s great. But maybe we wait to jump straight to a friends-with-benefits label.” Louis said the words despite the voice in his head screaming “date him! date him!” and he hoped that this wouldn’t drive them in the opposite direction from that, but friends with benefits sounded like something that would just get messy, and fast. 

Harry was finally returning to his normal skin tone, his coffee mug nearly empty. “Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense.” He confirmed. “Sounds good.” He offered a smile, nudging Louis’ thigh with his toe playfully, not protesting when Louis grabbed his foot with a warning look. Things felt easy between them already, like they could finally be themselves without the self-imposed pretense of hating each other. 

 

\---

The rest of the semester flew by, with Harry becoming a regular at their Friday night outings, the first snow falling, the drama of which of the senior couples having gotten together and broken up, and the grind of increased school work and grading for all of them. The LGBT club had decided on a bake sale for their fall fundraiser, with plans to host a spring formal with the money. It wasn’t until the week was upon them that Louis realized how frazzled he was, pulled in too many directions between that, his classes, helping Niall with the school musical, and trying to at least hang out with his cat sometimes. He had no idea what to make, not that he was an excellent baker in the first place. When he voiced this to Harry, though, the other boy didn’t seem to see an issue. 

“Just come over to mine.” Harry shrugged simply. “We’ll make something together, it will all work out.” 

“Are you sure?” Louis asked, settled in his usual chair in the teachers lounge as they both ate their lunch. “You don’t have to.”

“Nah, of course. Come over tonight, if you want. What do you want to make? Brownies, cupcakes?”

“Cupcakes, obviously. Decorating is the most fun part.” Louis grinned. “Do you want me to bring anything?”

“Nah, just you.” Harry smiled. 

“Cool. I’ll be by with pizza and wine at seven.” Louis stuck his tongue out. He wasn’t going to just show up empty handed when Harry was helping him out like this. 

Harry just smiled. “It’s a date then.” He joked, bumping shoulders with Louis. 

“It’s a date, Curly.” Louis laughed, pretending like the words didn’t send a jolt through him. “See you tonight.” They headed to their respective classrooms, the words still ringing in his ears. He had to get over this crush, obsession, whatever it was. He and Harry were doing great as friends, and the “organic” benefits had yet to reoccur. 

The rest of the day flew by, with Louis making it home at a reasonable time to change out of his work clothes, into a comfortable hoodie and joggers, and snuggle with Millie for a while. He used his phone to place an order for him pickup a pizza around 630 on his way to Harry’s and figured he could just stop by the liquor store that was in that same shopping center. He dozed in and out of consciousness, letting the day drain out of him and Millie’s purrs lull him, until his alarm went off and he gave Millie a last pat, grabbed his keys, and headed for the pizzeria. 

He had to wait a few minutes at the pizza place, a dinner rush having set them behind, so he stood in the corner and played a few rounds of solitaire on his phone before they finally called his name and he was able to get out of the room, sighing in relief as he stepped into the crisp, far less crowded air outside the shop. He put the pizza in the passenger seat of his car before walking across the parking lot to grab a six pack of Stella and finally get on the road to Harry’s house. He arrived at a quarter past seven and didn’t bother knocking, as snow had started to fall and he wasn’t about to linger outside in it. 

“It’s fucking freezing.” Louis complained loudly to announce his presence, toeing off his shoes at the entrance and wandering to Harry’s kitchen, finding the boy on the phone and puttering around, getting out the ingredients for cupcakes. Harry waved and smiled,continuing to chat for a few minutes while Louis found a free spot on the counter for the pizza and dug through the drawers for a bottle opener. 

“Yeah, ok. Yeah, Saturday sounds great, Danny, thanks. See you then.” Harry blushed and bit back a smile. “You too. Bye.” He finally ended the call and directed his attention towards Louis, who was burrowing into his hoodie and already chewing a piece of pizza, having resisted the whole drive here.  
“Who’s Danny?” Louis asked, mouth full, still trying to warm up from his short period outside. 

“Hi Louis, good to see you too. Yeah, come on in.” Harry said drily, though there was a smile on his face. 

“This is what you got when you signed up to be friends.” Louis shrugged. “I broke into Niall’s house once.”

“I heard twice.” Harry teased. 

“Only one counts. He forgot I was coming over the second time and the game was about to start, I wasn’t about to miss it.” Louis justified. “Who’s Danny?”

Harry blushed. “Danny is uh. A guy I met. We have a date on Saturday.” 

The pizza turned to ash in Louis mouth, but he forced himself to swallow. “Oh.” He said, clearing his throat and trying to wash the food down with a sip of beer. “Erm, congrats. What’s he like?”

“He’s younger, which I dunno how I feel about.” Harry shrugged. “But he was persistent, figured I would give him a date or two, see how it goes. Nothing serious yet.”

Ok, well. Louis could handle that, he supposed. He realized it had been far too long a period of time for him to respond, and blushed slightly. “That’s great, H. Glad you’re uh. Getting out there.” He said, setting the pizza down. “So what are we making?” He asked, desperate to change the subject. 

“Cupcakes. Figured we could do funfetti with rainbow sprinkles, because rainbows.” Harry grinned. 

“That’s so original, Harry.” Louis laughed, rolling his eyes. “Let’s make rainbow cupcakes for the gay bake sale.”

“Heyyyy.” Harry pouted. “They’re fun.”

“I’m only teasing. Funfetti is the best.” Louis smiled, pinching Harry’s side lightly. “Come on then, eat your pizza. We gotta get started.”

Louis managed to get his emotions under control for the rest of the evening, stirring the mix after Harry measured the ingredients, then rolling them in sprinkles after Harry carefully iced them. They packaged them into containers of six, and Louis was actually pretty impressed. 

 

“I would buy these.” He said in approval, dipping his finger in some of the leftover icing. “Good teamwork, H.” He winked, starting to do the dishes and hip-checking Harry out of the way when the other man tried to help. “You can dry, if you insist.” Louis allowed, flicking a little soap sud towards Harry playfully. They worked together in companionable silence, the kitchen gradually getting back to the previous neatness. Louis helped himself to another slice of pizza, feeling a little better about the situation. Harry could go on his date, it would likely be a disaster, and everything would go back to normal. 

Snow was falling heavily by the time Louis left, not yet sticking to the pavement but forming a loose blanket on the grass and his car. “See you tomorrow, Harry.” He waved, snowflakes dusting his eyelashes as he shivered against the cool air, a small thread of jealousy still sitting in his gut but mostly an overwhelming sense of fondness. He drove the short distance to his own house, propping up his windshield wipers before letting himself in and cranking up the thermostat. He scooped up a purring Millie and meandered upstairs, curling up under an extra blanket and falling asleep easily. 

The bake sale went off without a hitch the next day, raising close to $400 for the club after they sold out of goods. Harry and Louis cleared up with a tired satisfaction for the work the club did, even handing out a few flyers and chatting to students interested in joining the club. 

It was two weeks later as they were trying to get the paperwork done for the spring formal all set before finals and winter break set in that things boiled over. Harry had peeled off his vest and unbuttoned the top few buttons on his shirt as they sat in the teacher’s lounge after hours, revealing a love bite at the base of his neck. That had sent Louis into a surly mood, hardly speaking as they researched DJs, catering, and decorations for the dance. 

“Would you please stop doing that.” Harry said tightly as Louis popped his gum, echoing through the otherwise silent room. Both men were knee deep in forms, a couple of sandwiches forgotten between them as they filled out information left and right. 

“As soon as you stop tapping your pen.” Louis bit back, rubbing his eyes underneath his glasses. He considered using his middle finger and pulling off one of those sly means of gesturing, but thought the better it. 

The glare Harry leveled him with brought new meaning to the phrase ‘if looks could kill’. “What is your problem today, Louis?” He demanded, setting his pen down and turning towards his coworker. “I thought we were over this shit?”

“My problem,” Louis seethed, “is that massive fucking hickey on your neck.” He snapped his gum again, eyeing the dark mark Harry had hidden through the day. “S not very professional, is it? And I thought you didn’t even like Dane, or whatever his name was. He was too young for you.” He sneered.

Harry took a deep breath, blinking slowly at Louis before speaking with a deadly calm tone. “It hasn’t been visible all day, Louis. No kids saw it. His name is Danny, and he’s sweet. What the fuck is your real problem.”

Louis just scoffed and turned back to his papers, the way his leg was bouncing the only thing giving away the internalized tension he was holding. “Whatever, Styles.”

“Don’t fucking ‘Styles’ me.” Harry snapped. “You’re a fucking adult, act like it and talk to me. We’re more mature than the fucking fourteen year olds who refuse to acknowledge a problem and just wind up ignoring each other for the rest of high school. ” At some point during his outburst he had stood up and was hovering over Louis, frustration rolling off of him. 

“I don’t have to fucking talk to you if I don’t want to.” Louis stood, nose to nose with Harry despite their height difference. “Just cause you’re an idiot letting some douche mark you up like a college kid doesn’t mean I have to feed into it and gossip about your little crush with you.”

“You brought it up!” Harry snapped, throwing his hands up. “Are you fucking jealous? You’re not getting any so I can’t either?” 

With that, Louis surged forward and closed the limited distance between them, sealing their lips roughly together. It seemed to catch Harry off guard, but it was only half a beat before the taller man was kissing back and crowding Louis against the table.

“I’m fucking jealous, because that should be me leaving marks on you.” Louis growled between kisses. “Not some unemployed asshole.”

“He has a job.” Harry laughed breathlessly. “But if that keeps you going, by all means, he’s unemployed. Glad this all worked.” 

Louis broke them apart, eyes glossy and lips slick. “What worked?”

“Making you jealous. You wouldn’t fucking act on anything, I had to get you to make a move. I sent Danny home after a quick makeout, I haven’t fucked him. Told him I had my eyes on someone else.” Harry smirked. 

“Fuck you, Styles.” Louis muttered. “Couldn’t have made a fucking move yourself?”

“I would have eventually.” Harry shrugged. “This was more fun.” He pressed their lips together again, laughing quietly at Louis irritated whine. “Hey Louis, are you a diamond? Because you give me a hardness of ten. Will you please go on a date with me?” He asked playfully. “There, I made a move. Happy?”

“I hate you.” Louis sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. 

“Are you a scientist? Because I lab you.” Harry continued, a mischievous grin lighting up his face. 

“Shut up. I’m still mad.”

“What say we slip between my beta-pleated sheets and you get to know my alpha-helix?” Harry waggling his eyebrows.

“Oh my god.” Louis finally let laughter bubble out of him, resting his forehead on Harry’s chest. “Yes, you dork, I will go on a date with you.” 

Harry just smiled and kissed the top of Louis’ head. “Thank you. Sorry it took us so long.”

“It took exactly as long as it was meant to.” Louis murmured, letting himself enjoy the feeling of being held. “We got there in the end.”


End file.
